Alberico Motta

(b. 6 October 1937, Italy)

Alberico Motta was fifteen years old, when he showed his first comics work to the publisher Caregaro. Two years later, he cancelled his tenchical studies to get a job at the publishing house Dardo. There, he worked at the editorial office, where he also illustrated some stories for the magazines Chicchirichi and Cri Cri. He took over the title comic of Chicchirichi from Sandro Angiolini and worked as a cover artist for Il Grande Blek, Buffalo Bill and El Coyote. His final work for Dardo was 'Stanlio e Ollio', a comics versiono of 'Laurel and Hardy'. Between 1957 and 1962, he drew for Edizione Alpe, drawing stories with 'Cucciolo' and 'Tiramolla'.

In 1963, he began a longtime collaboration with publisher Renato Bianconi, for whom he created 'Pierino', 'Napoleone Sprint', 'Ali Salam', 'Nando e Romoletto', 'Gigi e Carletto', 'Ursus' and 'Nerone', most of which were published in Geppo or Soldino. In 1965, he also illustrated some stories with 'Felix the Cat' for Soldino. Between 1966 and 1975 he focused on scriptwriting for artists like Nicola Del Principe, Tiberio Colantuoni, Sandro Dossi and Pierluigi Sangalli. Among his production were 'Braccio di Ferro' ('Popeye'), 'Soldino', 'Geppo', 'Trottolino', 'Pinocchio' and 'Provolino'. In 1975, he took on drawing again, starting with stories with 'Tom and Jerry' and his own creation 'Big Robot', also for Bianconi.

In addition, he cooperated on the Rolf Kauka's Fix und Foxi magazine for the German market. In 1980, he joined the Staff di If, where he did advertising jobs as well as Disney comics for Mondadori. He created several stories with 'Topolino' ('Mickey Mouse') for Topolino in a style inspired by the Gottfredson stories of the 1940s. He also drew for the other Disney publications, as well as the merchandising.